Context sensitive labels for an electronic device

ABSTRACT

A control panel unit for a computing device includes buttons having characteristics that define individual button states. Upon actuation of a button, the viewable states of the buttons may change. A portion of the button may be illuminated to represent the state and/or include an icon depicting an application controlled by the button. The control panel unit may include a display for displaying plural soft labels corresponding to the buttons and representing the current context that will be initiated when the corresponding button is actuated. The soft labels may identify users or applications available to one user. Upon actuation of an application, the soft labels can change to represent various actions or functions available in the application. In the user interface, each user may be assigned a specific color scheme. The color schemes allow a person to visually determine who is logged into the system and/or which individual has new information.

I. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

A. Technical Field

The disclosure generally relates to employing a dynamic user interfacefor an electronic device. More particularly, the disclosure relates tothe use of context sensitive soft labels and button states to provide auser interface that allows a user to navigate through a series offunctions associated with an electronic device.

B. Related Art

In conventional computer systems, a single monitor or other type ofdisplay unit is connected to a system bus via an interface, such as avideo adapter. The system bus couples the monitor to the centralprocessing unit (CPU) of the host computer. The host computer executesinstructions requesting that information be retrieved from system memoryand sent over the system bus to the display monitor for display.

One known system provides a computer network having a common CPU thatcan be shared among multiple display terminals and keyboards. In thissystem, the display terminals are dumb terminals under the control ofthe CPU. Such a system is typically set up for multiple independentusers. The advantage of such a system is that the CPU can be centrallylocated out of sight and away from each of the user's terminals. Thus,space can be freed up at a user's workstation. Another advantage is thatall the applications can be stored in a single location rather thanhaving to be installed separately for each user.

With the advent of smart home environments, it is not feasible to placetraditional computer terminals including large monitors and keyboards atmultiple locations around a home. Traditional computer terminals requirea significant amount of space, which is typically not available in mostlocations throughout a home. Thus, smaller control panel units includingauxiliary displays are needed to facilitate the implementation of smarthomes.

Existing control panel units are designed for systems with limitedfunctionality such as stereos, telephones and the like. The userinterfaces for these devices typically have several buttons and adisplay panel with each button being dedicated to one function. Forexample, with a radio, one button may be dedicated to volume control andanother to tuning. To provide rich and robust functionality for multipleapplications that will be employed in smart homes, existing controlpanel units require additional buttons. With an increase in the numberof buttons, control panel real estate expands such that the size of thecontrol panel unit approaches the size of a traditional computerterminal. Further, operation can become overwhelming from a userfriendliness perspective with a substantial number of buttons. Suchcontrol panel units are unwieldy for the home environment where space isat a premium. Consequently, there is a need in the art to increase thefunctionality available in a control panel unit to approach the richnessand robustness of a traditional computer terminal while providing afeasibly sized control panel unit.

II. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention overcomes many of the shortcomings of existingcontrol panel units by providing a control panel unit with a displaythat can be located throughout the home to allow users to controlmultiple devices and activate multiple applications from multiplelocations. Aspects of the invention include providing context sensitivecharacteristics for a user interface for an electronic device. Thecontext sensitive characteristics can take the form of viewable statesof button inputs on a control panel unit and/or soft labels on a displayportion of the control panel unit. The viewable states on the buttoninputs may include icons and/or illuminable regions on the buttons.

The present invention is directed to a control panel unit for a computersystem having button inputs with viewable states thereon and/or softlabels on a display, which represent the context of the button inputs.In response to actuation of one of the button inputs, the viewablestates and soft labels can change.

In another aspect of the invention, a display unit may be integratedwith the control panel unit. The display unit may include separatedisplay regions including display regions displaying context sensitivesoft labels corresponding to respective button inputs and a main displayregion for displaying data. One of the advantages of the soft labels isthat they allow a user to know the functionality of a button input priorto actuation. Further, each time a button is actuated, some of thebuttons may take on a new function. As a result, each button can be usedto initiate a function depending upon the specific application beingcontrolled by the control panel unit, where the function to be initiatedmay change depending on the context.

According to another aspect of the invention, the soft labels adjacentto the button inputs can identify members of a family or any group ofpeople. Upon actuating one of the physical button inputs, a user profilefor the person identified by the soft label associated with the buttoncan be launched and information for the specific user can be displayedin the main display region. Also, applications identified in the userprofile for the person can be displayed adjacent to the button inputs.Thus, the display region may indicate the context of three buttons asemail, voice mail, and appointments. Upon actuation of the buttonindicating email, the email application for the user may be launched andthe soft labels can change to represent functionality available (e.g.,read, create mail, etc.). By actuating the button associated with thesoft label representing the read function, the first email for the useris opened and the soft labels indicate the next functionality for thebutton inputs. In another aspect, another button provides the ability toscroll through information displayed in the main display region whenappropriate, such as emails. In certain instances, scrolling can changethe functions available and may cause a soft label to fade out ordisplay a functionality as a user scrolls through various lists.

In another aspect of the invention, the button inputs can haveilluminable portions, which represent the context of the buttons. Anicon on the button may represent a particular action or function. Whenthe icon is illuminated, actuation of the button may cause an actionrepresented by the icon to be initiated. Illustrative actions includeaudio, calendar, news and messaging applications.

In yet another aspect of the invention, the control panel unit may bescaled to provide a richer user interface (UI) based on the displaycharacteristics. An illustrative UI can range from simple LEDnotification, text-to-speech of email messages to a full UI with a touchpanel interface and graphics picture frame. That is, the UI for thedisplay unit of the control panel unit may include an LCD (liquidcrystal display), LED (light emitting diode) or EL (electro-luminescent)display panel. Also, the display unit may function as a UI for Internetradio, video, “push information”, music player (mp3, Microsoft® Windows®Media Audio, etc.), or become the hardware equivalent of a multimediaplayer. Further, the display unit can be the display for applicationssuch as a jukebox, boombox, stock ticker, electronic picture frame, etc.

These and other novel advantages, details, embodiments, features andobjects of the present invention will be apparent to those skilled inthe art from following the detailed description of the invention, theattached claims and accompanying drawings, listed herein, which areuseful in explaining the invention.

III. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a general-purpose computer system that may be used with acontrol panel unit in accordance with embodiments of the presentinvention.

FIG. 2 shows the physical structure of an illustrative computer systemaccording to embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 3 shows a block diagram of a control panel unit according to anillustrative embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 shows a block diagram of a control panel unit according toanother illustrative embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 shows the front of an illustrative control panel unit accordingto embodiments of the present invention.

FIGS. 6A-6I show illustrative viewable states of button inputs inaccordance with an illustrative embodiment of the present invention.

FIGS. 7A and 7B show control panels according to an exemplary embodimentof the present invention.

FIGS. 8A-8D depict display panels according to exemplary embodiments ofthe present invention.

FIGS. 9A and 9B depict display panels according to other exemplaryembodiments of the present invention.

FIGS. 10A and 10B depict control panels according to exemplaryembodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 11A displays a display panel and FIG. 11B displays a control panelaccording to exemplary embodiments of the invention.

FIGS. 12A-12E show an illustrative implementation of the contextsensitive soft labels according to the present invention.

FIGS. 13A-13E show illustrative flows of various applications accordingto illustrative embodiments of the present invention.

IV. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present invention relates to a user interface (UI) for an electronicdevice having context sensitive labels. The UI may display, among otherfeatures, status/notification information, applications, systemmessages, and the like. Electronic devices generally include all typesof devices having processing capability including, but not limited to,desktop, handheld, and portable computing devices and appliances, aswell as computing devices and appliances which may be found in variousenvironments, including home or office environments.

Although not required, portions of the invention may be described in thegeneral context of computer-executable instructions, such as programmodules. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, objects,scripts, components, data structures, etc. that perform particular tasksor implement particular abstract data types. Moreover, those skilled inthe art will appreciate that the invention may be practiced with anynumber of computer system configurations including, but not limited to,distributed computing environments where tasks are performed by remoteprocessing devices that are linked through a communications network. Ina distributed computing environment, program modules may be located inboth local and remote memory storage devices. A control panel unitaccording to the present invention may also be practiced with personalcomputers (PCs), hand-held devices, multiprocessor systems,microprocessor-based or programmable consumer electronics, network PCs,minicomputers, mainframe computers, and the like.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a computing environment with which thepresent invention may be implemented. The present invention may beimplemented within a general purpose computing device in the form of aconventional personal computer 200, including a processing unit 210, asystem memory 220, and a system bus 230 that couples various systemcomponents including the system memory to the processing unit 210. Thesystem bus 230 may be any of several types of bus structures including amemory bus or memory controller, a peripheral bus, and a local bus usingany of a variety of bus architectures. The system memory includes readonly memory (ROM) 240 and random access memory (RAM) 250.

A basic input/output system 260 (BIOS), containing the basic routinesthat help to transfer information between elements within the personalcomputer 200, such as during start-up, is stored in ROM 240. Thepersonal computer 200 further includes a hard disk drive 270 for readingfrom and writing to a hard disk, not shown, a magnetic disk drive 280for reading from or writing to a removable magnetic disk 290, and anoptical disk drive 291 for reading from or writing to a removableoptical disk 292 such as a CD ROM or other optical media. The hard diskdrive 270, magnetic disk drive 280, and optical disk drive 291 areconnected to the system bus 230 by a hard disk drive interface 292, amagnetic disk drive interface 293, and an optical disk drive interface294, respectively. The drives and their associated computer-readablemedia provide nonvolatile storage of computer readable instructions,data structures, program modules and other data for the personalcomputer 200.

Although the exemplary environment described herein employs a hard disk,a removable magnetic disk 290 and a removable optical disk 292, itshould be appreciated by those skilled in the art that other types ofcomputer readable media which can store data that is accessible by acomputer, such as magnetic cassettes, flash memory cards, digital videodisks, Bernoulli cartridges, Zip/Jaz disks, random access memories(RAMs), read only memories (ROMs), and the like, may also be used in theexemplary operating environment.

A number of program modules may be stored on the hard disk, magneticdisk 290, optical disk 292, ROM 240 or RAM 250, including an operatingsystem 295, one or more application programs 296, other program modules297, and program data 298. A user may enter commands and informationinto the personal computer 200 through input devices such as a keyboard201 and pointing device 202. Other input devices (not shown) may includea microphone, joystick, game pad, satellite dish, scanner, or the like.These and other input devices are often connected to the processing unit210 through a serial port interface 206 that is coupled to the systembus, but may be connected by other interfaces, such as a parallel port,game port or a universal serial bus (USB). A monitor 207 or other typeof main display unit is also connected to the system bus 230 via aninterface, such as a video adapter 208. Also, a control panel unit 307,which can include a display (e.g., an auxiliary display), is coupled tothe system bus 230 via an auxiliary interface 314. In addition to themain display unit and the control panel unit, personal computerstypically include other peripheral output devices (not shown), such asspeakers and printers.

Although a control panel unit 307 according to the present invention maynot have a display associated therewith, for purposes of thisdescription, it is assumed that the control panel unit 307 includes adisplay. Further, it should be understood that a control panel unit ofthe present invention may be part of the auxiliary display unitdescribed in commonly assigned, co-pending application Ser. No.09/556,982, filed Apr. 24, 2000, entitled “Auxiliary Display Unit For aComputer System” to Vong et al., which is herein incorporated byreference.

The auxiliary interface 314 can couple the processing unit 210 to thecontrol panel unit 307 in various ways. It should be understood that theterms “couple,” “coupling”, “coupled” and grammatical variations thereofas used herein mean all known wired and wireless connections. Interfacesbetween the control panel unit 307 and the personal computer 200include, but are not limited to, an expansion card, standardcommunication interfaces such as serial, parallel, 1394, or USB(universal serial bus) connectors, IR, Ethernet, RF or Power LineCarrier.

The personal computer 200 may operate in a networked environment usinglogical connections to one or more remote computers, such as a remotecomputer 209. The remote computer 209 may be another personal computer,a server, a router, a network PC, a peer device or other common networknode, and typically includes many or all of the elements described aboverelative to the personal computer 200, although only a memory storagedevice 211 has been illustrated in FIG. 1. The logical connectionsdepicted in FIG. 1 include a local area network (LAN) 212 and a widearea network (WAN) 213. Such networking environments are commonplace inoffices, enterprise-wide computer networks, intranets and the Internet.

When used in a LAN networking environment, the personal computer 200 isconnected to the local network 212 through a network interface oradapter 214. When used in a WAN networking environment, the personalcomputer 200 typically includes a modem 215 or other means forestablishing a communications over the wide area network 213, such asthe Internet. The modem 215, which may be internal or external, isconnected to the system bus 230 via the serial port interface 206. In anetworked environment, program modules depicted relative to the personalcomputer 200, or portions thereof, may be stored in the remote memorystorage device. It will be appreciated that the network connectionsshown are exemplary and other means of establishing a communicationslink between the computers may be used.

FIG. 2 shows the physical structure of an in illustrative computersystem according to embodiments of the present invention. In FIG. 2, apersonal computer (PC) 200 is physically integrated with a main displayunit or monitor 207 and a control panel unit 307. Thus, the PC 200including the main display unit 207 and control panel unit 307 is shownas part of the same physical structure. As described further herein, thecontrol panel unit 307 may be a standalone device with or without anauxiliary display, or part of an auxiliary display unit (as described inapplication Ser. No. 09/556,982 referred to above).

According to embodiments of the present invention, the control panelunit 307 may display information under the control of the PC 200. FIG. 3depicts a block diagram of the control panel unit 307 according to anillustrative embodiment of the present invention. The host PC auxiliaryinterface 314 may be a standard communication or card interface forcommunicating with the control panel unit 307. The host PC auxiliaryinterface can be adapted for an expansion card and standardcommunication interfaces known in the art such as serial, parallel,1394, or USB, IR, Ethernet, RF or Power Line Carrier.

In the illustrative embodiment of FIG. 3, the control panel unit 307includes an interface 310 including a PCI card interface 312 and a USBinterface 314 for communicating with the host PC. The interface 310 iscoupled to a CPU 316. The CPU 316 is coupled to local memory such asRAM/ROM 318. The CPU 316 receives the commands through the interface 310from the host PC and interacts with local memory, e.g., RAM/ROM 318 asnecessary and causes the appropriate commands to be directed to agraphics module 320, which in turn generates an appropriate display tobe shown on the display panel 324. Also, the CPU 316 is coupled to anI/O module 322, which can receive user input through buttons and volumeknob 326, such as by way of a user turning the volume knob or actuatingone of the buttons. The CPU 316 may output information through the I/Omodule 322. For example, audio may be output or a button may beilluminated. It should be understood that buttons and volume knobs areillustrative input/output devices and that the present invention is notso limited. For example, the I/O module 322 and graphics module 320 mayboth be connected to the display panel 324, where inputs may be receivedby way of a touch screen. Further, I/O module 322 may be connected to amicrophone, speakers, an IR (infrared) sensor device that can identify auser, a camera, a keypad, etc.

FIG. 4 shows another illustrative implementation of a control panel unitaccording to an embodiment of the present invention. Elements in FIG. 4that are the same as elements in FIG. 3 have been labeled with the samereference numerals. In FIG. 4 the host computer includes an RF linkmodule 330 for interfacing with the control panel unit 307, and inparticular with the RF interface 313, which forms part of the interface310. In contrast to FIG. 2 and in accordance with FIG. 4, the hostcomputer and the control panel unit are not physically attached to eachother.

The RF link module 330 may be coupled to a server by way of a standardwired connection, such as 10Base-T or 100Base-T. When coupled to aserver, the host computer may be one of plural host computers coupled toa server. Alternatively, the RF link module 330 may be external to thehost computer, and within broadcast range of the RF interface 313 of thecontrol panel unit 307. In this arrangement, a standard wiredconnection, such as 10Base-T or 100Base-T, could be used to providesignaling between the RF link module 330 and the host computer.

In embodiments of the invention where multiple control panel units(either fixed or mobile) are coupled to the host computer and spread outover a wide area (e.g., in a home or office environment), various RFlink modules can better facilitate communication between the hostcomputer and control panel units. In a home environment, individualrooms or areas around a house may have a dedicated RF link module 330for uploading and downloading information (e.g., audio, video,multimedia, data, etc.) between the host computer and each control panelunit. This may be particularly beneficial in areas such as a kitchen orliving room where multiple control panel units may exist. Control panelunits may be implemented in many devices including, but not restrictedto, various kitchen appliances, communication devices (e.g., cable,satellite, and Internet televisions, satellite or Internet radios, andmobile and landline communication units), security systems, electronicgame equipment, electronic picture frame, web companions and Internetappliances. These devices may be fixed or some may be used portably suchas a wristwatch or handheld Internet appliance. Further, many elementsmay be coupled to the I/O module 322 of the control panel unitincluding, but not limited to, a camera, biometric identification moduleand motion sensor (e.g., as a login method and for security), Internetappliances, electronic game equipment, wireless (e.g., IR and RF) remotecontrol devices (e.g., for an MP3 player, CD player, Internet appliance,radio, television, electronic game equipment, VCR, etc.).

In addition as shown in the FIG. 4 embodiment, a modem (e.g., 56 k) maybe coupled to the control panel unit CPU 316 and the interface 310.Responsive to a command received from the host computer 200 or the CPU316, the modem can connect the control panel unit 307 to the Internet orother data communication networks without having to route theinformation through the host computer. This implementation may beparticularly beneficial when multiple Internet connections (e.g., phonelines, DSL, cable-modem, ISDN) are accessible. That is a user of thecontrol panel unit may not have to share bandwidth with a user of themain display monitor who accesses the Internet via the host computer.The host computer can send commands to the control panel unit toinitiate its own connection to the Internet. Also, the control panelunit may be separately addressable and capable of receiving informationdirectly from the Internet such as “push” type data including stockticker information, sports scores, news, etc.

The display panel 324 may have a resolution of, for example, 256×64pixels. In an illustrative two-line mode, the display panel may bebroken up into four sections vertically, a top section 24 pixels high(24×24 font display), a second section 16 pixels high (16×16 fontdisplay), a third section 8 pixels high (no text or image display) and abottom section 16 pixels high with a tab area (16×16 font display). Inan illustrative three-line mode, the display panel may be broken up intofour sections vertically; a top section, second section and thirdsection 16 pixels high (16×16 font display), and a bottom section 16pixels high with a tab area (16×16 font display). Theses mode may beemployed for all screens.

Further, a control panel unit according to the invention, such as FIG.4, may be configured to have a touch screen display, a videocamera—intercom system, email notification on the display panel in theform of video or text or output by a speaker for voice. The displaypanel may be a display dedicated for or adapted to display informationfor an MP3, DVD, CD player, electronic picture frame, or Internet sitecoupled to the control panel unit 307. The display panel may be adaptedfor multiple types of information included, but not limited to, calendarinformation, voice mail notification, email notification, clock, helpinformation, stereo controller and view, caller ID status, shopping carttally, pop-up video (anecdotes, facts, trivia), control panel for homeand PC (e.g., status of oven, dryer, print job), news headlines, sportsscores, weather, stock ticker, traffic information, reminders, notices,operating system (“OS”) alerts, appointment list, web site map,application status, financial information, favorites, history, mostrecently used documents, applications, or servers, email preview (e.g.,first three lines of email), list of new emails, chat notification,gaming information, and other types of information.

In one implementation of the control panel unit, the UI may includebuttons, which may be actuated by depression or responsive to proximityor touch sensitivity. Actuation of the buttons initiates an action. Anillustrative front panel 500 of the control panel unit is shown in FIG.5. The front panel includes six buttons 510, 520, 530, 540, 550, 560 anda display panel 570. Each of the buttons 520, 530, 540, 550 and 560 hasicons thereon. The icons can represent a specific action or functionassociated with the button. In this illustrative embodiment, the iconsdepicted on buttons 520, 530, 540, 550 and 560 represent HOME,MESSAGING, MUSIC, TASKS, and MORE.

All the buttons shown in FIG. 5 have an illuminable characteristic wherethe button may take on different viewable states. A center portion ofbutton 510 may be in an illuminated state or de-illuminated state asshown FIGS. 6A and 6B, respectively. Also, buttons 530, 540, 550 and 560may take on different illuminating states. Illustrative illuminatingstates of button 530 are depicted in FIGS. 6C, 6D and 6E. In FIG. 6C,the messaging icon is illuminated while in FIG. 6D the message icon isde-illuminated. FIG. 6E shows a light ring around the button to identifyanother state. States may be represented by any combination ofilluminated and de-illuminated portions.

FIGS. 6F-6I represent the states of a physical button with an LED. Thebutton may be located on a display panel (not shown in FIG. 5) such as adisplay panel similar to FIG. 5 in an area to the right of the displayarea. The various states of the button shown in FIGS. 6F-6I arecontrolled by the context of the software UI. The various states of theLEDs for the up and down arrow combinations are shown in FIGS. 6F-6I. InFIG. 6F, both arrows are illuminated representing that more informationexists in the display area to scroll up or down to (for example in oneembodiment, the middle three of five available music titles is displayedwith more information being available for display by scrolling in eitherdirection, i.e., one title above and one title below). In FIG. 6G, botharrows are de-illuminated representing that no further informationexists to scroll up or down to. In FIG. 6H, the up arrow isde-illuminated and the down arrow is illuminated representing that moreinformation exists to scroll down to only. In FIG. 6I, the up arrow isilluminated and the down arrow is de-illuminated representing that moreinformation exists to scroll up to only. The button may include twoactuatable button portions corresponding to the up and down arrows.Depression of the up arrow portion may cause the display to scroll updepending on the button state. Similarly, depression of the down arrowportion may cause the display to scroll down depending on the buttonstate.

Also, in one embodiment, the color of portions of the button, forexample the icon, LED, or soft label, may vary from one state toanother. The color of the button may impart information. For example,the color can denote the user (e.g., different members of a family orgroup). A particular color may always be associated with a specificbutton or the color of a button may change to indicate a change of stateor that information is associated with a specific userAny characteristicthat may change can be employed to represent a state of a button. Otherpossible characteristics include, but are not limited to, intensity ofthe illuminating portion, button texture, and other factors of buttonappearance such as flashing and blinking including flashing and blinkingfrequency and flashing and blinking sequences. These states may beaffected by program routines associated with the control panel unitand/or by program routines located at another location in a networkedenvironment.

Each of the various viewable states of the buttons may represent afunction or action that will occur when the button is actuated. When theicon on buttons 530, 540, 550 and 560 is illuminated, actuation of theparticular button can result in an application being launched orinitiated. For example, actuation of button 530 when the icon on thebutton is illuminated may cause the control panel unit to launch amessaging application. In response to actuation of the button 530, thestates of the buttons 530, 540, 550 and 560 may change to represent adifferent action. Illustratively, the icon on button 550 may becomede-illuminated and the ring portion on the periphery button may beilluminated. Such a state of the button 550 may represent that thestatus application represented by the icon cannot currently be launchedor initiated. Instead, actuation of the button 550 may result in theperformance of a task, action or function associated with the messagingapplication (e.g., view emails, view voice mails, etc.). Further, inresponse to actuation of the button 530, the icon on button 560 may bede-illuminated and the ring portion around the periphery of the buttonmay remain de-illuminated representing that the more function cannot belaunched and that actuation of the button 560 will not result in theperformance of any function. That is, this state may represent that thebutton 550 is temporarily disabled.

Actuation of the HOME button 520 may cause the control panel unit toreturn the buttons to the initial or home state. In one embodiment, thehome state may be the button states represented as shown in FIG. 5.Returning to the home state may cause an open application to be closed,and the user to be “logged out”. Button 510 may be used as a toggle orscrolling button/knob. Illustratively, if more than four actions areavailable to a user at any time (with only buttons 530, 540, 550, 560 toinitiate the action), the user could select the MORE button 560 toaccess a list of additional available applications (not shown). Onceviewing the list of additional applications, the user may scroll throughthe available applications using button 510 and launch a highlightedapplication using the button 530.

In an alternative implementation, if five actions are available,successive actuation of button 510 may cause the action defined bybutton 560 to toggle between two different actions. If six actions areavailable, actuation of button 510 may result in one action beingassigned to button 560. Following successive actuations, three differentactions may be scrolled through and assigned to button 560.

FIG. 7A shows the home or initial state according to an exemplaryembodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, the displaypanel 570 displays various information. Many different types ofinformation may be displayed. In FIG. 7A information shown includesdate, time, number of email messages, next scheduled appointment, andthe status of the user's stocks. It should be understood that theinformation displayed on the display panel 570 may automatically changeby rotating among various pieces of information (e.g., number of newemail messages, date, time, stock prices, etc.). In addition, certaintypes of information including time, weather, stock prices, sportsscores, traffic, etc. may be updated or refreshed from a source such asthe host computer or Internet. Illustratively, the display panel maychange every three seconds in the home state. First, the current dateand time may be displayed followed by the next appointment for the day,followed by the number of emails received and back to the current dateand time. During other applications, it is possible that the informationdisplayed may also periodically change back and forth from currentinformation in the active application to general status information suchas identification of the date, time, number of email messages and nextscheduled appointment. Also, notification alerts generated, by the hostPC for example, of specific information such as receipt of a new email,reminder of an upcoming appointment, OS alerts (e.g., printer out ofpaper) and alerts for a specific application may be displayed as anassociated event occurs.

Actuation of button 530 in FIG. 7A may cause the control panel unit tolaunch or initiate the messaging application. FIG. 7B depicts anexemplary front panel of the control panel unit responsive to actuationof the messaging application from the home state shown FIG. 7A. In thisembodiment, button 510 provides a scrolling user interface that allowsthe user to scroll through email messages. It should be understood thatcertain types of responses might not be available for each email sender(e.g., online chat). Consequently, scrolling can cause the soft labelsto change, where a function is identified by a soft label as availablefor one message and not identified by a soft label as available for asecond message.

The subject of the email, the sender, the time and date the message wassent, and the number of messages (e.g., unopened) may be displayed inthe main display region 610 of the display panel 570. Also, the displaypanel 570 may include, but is not restricted to, four display regions630, 640, 650, 660 located adjacent to buttons 530, 540, 550, 560,respectively. A context sensitive soft label can be displayed in each ofthe four display regions. It should be understood that the four displayregions are not reserved exclusively for soft labels, but may be usedfor displaying content rather than soft labels as shown in FIG. 7A. Thesoft label can represent an action, function or task associated with thebutton adjacent thereto. Hence, the control panel unit can initiate theaction, function or task upon actuation of the respective button.Responsive to actuation of a button, the context sensitive soft labelsassociated with a button may change to represent another function,action or task responsive to actuation of any of the buttons. In FIG.7B, the periphery of the buttons 530, 540, 550, 560 is illuminatedindicating that the buttons can perform a function, action or task uponactuation. It should be understood that in other implementations of thepresent invention (not shown), other portions of the buttons could beilluminated to represent, among other things, the functionality orstatus of the buttons. The context sensitive soft labels VIEW, READ,DELETE, OPEN ON PC in display regions 630, 640, 650, 660, respectively,indicate the function, action or task that can be performed in thecontext of the messaging application when the corresponding button isactuated. The open on PC function launches an item (e.g., anapplication, message, etc.) on a PC, which is coupled to the controlpanel unit. The control panel unit may be remote from the PC and wiredor wirelessly coupled thereto. Actuation of the button 510 may cause thenext message to be displayed in the main display region 610 (e.g.,message 2 of 15), replacing the current message. In otherimplementations of the present invention, actuation of the button 510may permit the user to scroll through the body of the message.

Another implementation of the display panel for a specific user profileis shown in FIGS. 8A-8D. A user profile is predefined personalizedcontent to be shown for a specific user including the appearance of theuser interface. The user profile may be set up and/or activated when auser logs in to the system, making the control unit and host computeraware of the presence of the user.

In FIGS. 8A-8D, the display regions 630, 640, 650, 660 may correspond torespective adjacent buttons (not shown). Alternatively, the displayregions 630, 640, 650, 660 may themselves be touch-sensitive orotherwise actuatable buttons. The display of FIG. 8A may represent thehome state for a control panel or alternatively, may be a statefollowing launching or initiating an action or user profile.

For purposes of this discussion, it will be assumed that the messagingapplication was launched by actuation of a button resulting in thedisplay panel depicted in FIG. 8A. The four context sensitive softlabels displayed in the display regions 630, 640, 650, 660 may representthe functionality of a corresponding adjacent button in the context ofthe messaging application. Alternatively, the context sensitive softlabels may represent the functionality of a touch sensitive button inthe context of the messaging application where the button can be therespective display region. The context sensitive soft label in displayregion 630 represents that the email application of the messagingapplication can be initiated if the corresponding button is actuated.Similarly, the context sensitive soft label in display region 640represents that a voice mail application can be initiated if thecorresponding button is actuated; the context sensitive soft label indisplay region 650 represents that the appointments application will beinitiated if the corresponding button is actuated; and the contextsensitive soft label 660 represents that the tasks application can beinitiated if the corresponding button is actuated.

Responsive to actuation of the button that initiates the emailapplication, the context sensitive soft labels may change their contentand the main display region 610 may display different information asshown in FIG. 8B. The context sensitive soft labels in the four displayregions 630, 640, 650, 660 change to represent the functionality, actionor task of View, Open on PC, Read to Me, and Done, respectively. Themain display region 610 displays the author and the subject of the firstof three emails readable by the user. Actuation of a scrolling button,e.g., button 510, can result in the main display region displaying theauthor and the subject of the second of three emails as shown in FIG.8C. Another actuation of the scrolling button may result in the maindisplay region 610 changing to display the information shown in FIG. 8D.

In response to selection of the music functionality, such as byactuating button 540 in FIG. 5, the display panel shown in FIG. 9A maybe illustratively displayed. In the display panel of FIG. 9A, the maindisplay region 610 displays information indicating that a disk is in theCD player controlled by the control panel unit. The context sensitivesoft label in the display region 630 represents the function ofinitiating the CD player while the context sensitive soft label indisplay region 640 represents the function of initiating My Music. MyMusic can identify a My Music folder in the user's My Documents folder.Initiating the My Music function allows a user to navigate the My Musicfolder and ultimately select a music file or play list and launch themusic player. Responsive to actuation of a button associated with thecontext sensitive soft label in display region 630, the CD player playsthe CD and the context sensitive soft labels 630, 640 may change torepresent CD player functions play/pause and stop, respectively as shownin FIG. 9B. Also, as illustrated in FIG. 9B, the main display region 610displays information related to the CD player which can include, amongother information, the name of the disk, the title and track of the songbeing played, the volume of the song, playing time, etc.

In another embodiment, in which the music functionality is selected,such as by actuating button 540 in FIG. 5, the control panel shown inFIG. 10A may be illustratively displayed. In FIG. 10A, the display panel570 shows three illustrative music applications. As depicted in FIG.10A, no soft labels are displayed. Thus, user awareness of the contextfor each of the buttons in FIG. 10A is represented by the illuminatedstates of the buttons 510, 520, 530, 540, 550, 560. By not displayingsoft labels on the display panel 570, added screen real estate fordisplaying other data is available. On small display panels, screen realestate is at a premium and it is particularly advantageous to providecontext to the user without using soft labels and relying on the statesof buttons when possible.

By actuating the button 530 in FIG. 10A, the highlighted item/folder isselected and opened. Button 510 scrolls through the various applicationsitems available and each time the button is actuated, the list of itemsscrolls up or down and a different application is highlighted. As withother applications, scrolling can change the soft labels because certainfunctionality may not be available for each item/folder. That is, in theFIG. 10A implementation, the highlighted application in the list islocated in the middle of the list of three applications. Also in FIG.10A, the buttons 540, 550, 560 are not illuminated and thus are inactiveuntil, at least, the HOME button 520 or the button 530 is selected. InFIG. 10A, actuating the button 530 when the “CD: Neil Young ‘Unplugged’”application is selected initiates playing of the CD. FIG. 10Billustrates a control panel that may appear responsive to actuation ofthe button 530. The main display region 610 can change during playing ofthe CD. FIG. 10B shows the context sensitive soft labels and buttonstates which may immediately appear responsive to the actuation of thebutton 530 in FIG. 10A. The main display region 610 shown in FIG. 10Bindicates the amount of time which the current track on the CD has beenplaying and does not show the exact same information displayedimmediately responsive to actuation of button 530 in FIG. 10A. Forexample, the track and time may be different.

FIGS. 11A and 11B show two illustrative notification alert screenimplementations of the present invention. FIG. 11A shows animplementation with soft labels, but without button inputs and FIG. 11Bincludes soft labels and button inputs. When an alert is displayed, thealert screen can be displayed in place of the previous display. An alertcan be triggered by many different events such as when a message isreceived, an online chat is requested with a user of the control unit byanother party, or as a reminder for an upcoming appointment as depictedin FIGS. 11A and 11B. The particular alert displayed in the main displayregion 610 warns a particular user (Pamela), and provides the subject ofthe appointment (pickup Tommy from soccer) and the time of theappointment (6:15 PM). Such an alert would appear some prescribed timeprior to the actual appointment, such as 30 minutes. By selecting thesoft label function Dismiss displayed in display region 630, controlreturns to the previous screen, which is then displayed, and theappointment is dismissed. If instead, the user selects the soft labelsnooze, control returns to the previous screen, which is then displayedand the alert is reset to remind the user again of the appointment in apredefined number of minutes (e.g., 10 minutes).

An illustrative implementation of the context sensitive soft labels isshown in FIGS. 12A-12E. The main display region 610 may display statusinformation such as time, date and weather. In display regions 630, 640,650, 660, soft labels identifying four users (e.g., Jon, Mandy, Dana andRob) may be displayed. In an illustrative implementation, color may beused in the UI, where each user is assigned a specific color. The colormay be used to notify the user when new information for him or her ispresent. In this instance, a button below the user's name can light upwith an LED matching their assigned color or the background of therespective display region 630, 640, 650, 660 may be illuminated withtheir assigned color. Also, when the respective user selects their name,the entire UI may be displayed in their assigned color. The colorschemes provide greater personalization and can allow a person tovisually determine who is logged into the system from a distance andwhich individual has new information.

Responsive to actuation of the button corresponding to the soft label630 or a soft button 630 corresponding to the user Jon, the contextsensitive soft labels may change to identify the personalizedapplications for Jon as shown in his customized screen depicted in FIG.12B. The applications may include, but are not limited to, messages,calendar, news and music. Similarly, actuation of the buttons associatedwith the users Mandy, Rob and Dana would present their customizedscreens depicted in FIGS. 12C, 12D and 12E, respectively. Content may becustomized from within an application on the host computer. Content thatcan be personalized includes, but is not limited to, the home screen,the types of content displayed, the location of the content within theUI and the content of the respective user status.

FIG. 13A depicts illustrative modal events such as email and appointmentalerts, chat request alerts, and volume adjustment. Most modal eventscan be initiated by the occurrence of an event (e.g., a particular timeof day, arrival of a new message, etc.) rather than by an action of theuser. FIGS. 13B-13E represent activation of four different applicationsand illustrative flow sequences within those applications. FIG. 13Bdepicts the flows in the calendar application. FIG. 13C illustrates theflows in the messaging application including initiation of an onlinevoice chat. To initiate an online voice chat with a person, according toone embodiment of the invention, they should be on the user's buddy listand online at the time. FIG. 13D represents flows for the musicapplication. FIG. 13E shows an illustrative news application includingweather, traffic and stock information.

Referring to FIG. 3, the display panel 324 of the control panel unit 307may be set to receive display information that may have been part of thedomain of the main display unit 207 in conventional computer systemenvironments. For example, the responsibility for displaying informationregarding separate applications (e.g., stock tickers, weather reports,and traffic reports) may be assigned to the display panel 324 of thecontrol panel unit 307. Also, the control panel unit 307 could receivedisplay information normally associated with the task bar, system andapplication messages and notification of events (e.g., time, powerstatus, email and messaging notification, printer information, volumecontrol, dialog box notifications of system events etc.) on the maindisplay unit 307. According to another illustrative embodiment, byutilizing the buttons with the soft labels on the display panel, thecontrol panel unit can function as the UI for Internet radio andtelevision, video, “push information”, an MP3 player or even become thehardware equivalent of a Windows Media Player distributed by MicrosoftCorporation. The control panel unit UI may span from simple LEDnotifications to text-to-speech conversion of incoming email messages,to a full UI with a touch panel interface and a graphics picture frame.

A control panel unit may be responsible for a single or for multipleapplications, system messages, notifications and the like. For example,an email, word processing or financial application may appear on thedisplay panel of the control panel unit. Further, input from a user maybe received from an input device coupled to the control panel unit, thehost computer or both. The host computer can be configured manually ordynamically to route display functionality to the control panel unit.According to embodiments of the present invention, responsibility for anemail application may be routed to one or more control panel units bydefault. A plurality of control panel units may display information forone user and/or one or more specific control panel units may bededicated for displaying information for each user, that each user canhave a separate PC companion control panel unit. In an illustrativeimplementation of the present invention, if a user were to insert a CDinto the host computer, the host computer is configured to launch a softUI applet and route the UI applet for display on the display panel ofthe control panel unit rather than the display screen of the maindisplay unit.

An illustrative implementation of the control panel unit'scommunications with the host computer may be the same as thecommunications between the auxiliary display unit and host computer asdescribed in the application entitled “Auxiliary Display Unit For aComputer System” assigned application Ser. No. 09/556,982 incorporatedby reference herein. To control the control panel unit or module, thehost computer CPU may communicate with a PIC (programmable integratedcircuit) micro-controller chip located in the control panel unit.Locating a micro-controller chip in the control panel unit provides theability to offload any processing overhead from the host computer. If aseparate micro-controller is not used, then direct control of thecontrol panel unit's display panel and buttons will be theresponsibility of the host computer CPU.

In one embodiment the micro-chip controller may support severalfunctions including seven momentary push-button switches; volumecontrol; message notification light; IR blaster; hibernate mode/powermode LED (red/green states); and a motion sensor. Commands forcontrolling these functions and to report various states may be receivedand transmitted by way of a serial RS232 connector. The baud rate may be57.6 Kbaud and the data format may be 8 bits, 1 STOP, no parity. Itshould be understood that computers might communicate with one anotherin a number of ways. While the implementation described herein includesa serial interface, other exemplary methods of interfacing could be viashared memory, using command blocks, or via USB protocols as a HIDdevice. Firmware may be provided in the control panel unit to respond tocommands from the host computer.

While particular embodiments of the present invention have beendescribed and illustrated, it should be understood that the invention isnot limited thereto since modifications may be made by persons skilledin the art. The present application contemplates any and allmodifications that fall within the spirit and scope of the underlyinginvention disclosed and claimed herein.

1. A control panel unit for a computer system comprising: a displayscreen; first and second button inputs, the first button inputconfigured to display a first viewable state thereon and the secondbutton input configured to display a second viewable state thereon, thefirst and second viewable states changing in response to actuation ofsaid first button input, wherein the first and second viewable statesare displayed outside of the display screen.
 2. The control panel unitaccording to claim 1, wherein said display screen has first and seconddisplay regions for displaying first and second soft labels,respectively, said first and second soft labels being associated withsaid first and second button inputs, respectively, said first and seconddisplay regions being adjacent to said first and second button inputs,respectively, wherein said first and second soft labels change inresponse to actuation of said first button input.
 3. The control panelunit according to claim 1, wherein the first viewable state displayed onthe first button input is the same as the second viewable statedisplayed on the second button input, the first viewable staterepresenting a first action associated with the first button input andthe second viewable state representing a second action associated withsecond button input, the first and second actions being different. 4.The control panel unit according to claim 1, wherein said first andsecond viewable states represent first and second actions.
 5. Thecontrol panel unit according to claim 4, wherein the first actionincludes launching an application when said first button input isactuated.
 6. The control panel unit according to claim 5, wherein theapplication is a messaging, music, calendar or news application.
 7. Thecontrol panel unit according to claim 5, wherein the application islaunched on a computer coupled to said control panel unit.
 8. Thecontrol panel unit according to claim 4, wherein the first and secondactions represent responses to an alert.
 9. The control panel unitaccording to claim 1, wherein said first button input includes at leastone illuminable portion for defining the first viewable state.
 10. Thecontrol panel unit according to claim 9, wherein said at least oneilluminable portion is located on the periphery of said first buttoninput.
 11. The control panel unit according to claim 9, wherein said atleast one illuminable portion is an icon located on a central portion ofsaid first button input.
 12. The control panel unit according to claim1, wherein said first button input includes a portion configured tochange color, the first viewable state including a particular color. 13.The control panel unit according to claim 12, wherein the colorrepresents a specific user of the computer system.
 14. The control panelunit according to claim 1, wherein responsive to actuation of said firstbutton input or said second button input when data displayed on saiddisplay screen is selected, initiating an action associated with thedata.
 15. A control panel unit for a computer system comprising: adisplay having at least first and second display regions; at least firstand second button inputs adjacent to said first and second displayregions, respectively; and first and second soft labels displayed insaid first and second display regions, respectively, said first andsecond soft labels associated with said first and second button inputs,respectively, at least one of said first soft label and said second softlabel configured to change in response to actuation of said first buttoninput in a first state, wherein said first and second soft labelsrespectively represent first and second users of the computer system.16. The control panel unit according to claim 15, wherein said first andsecond soft labels and content on said display are displayed in a formatassociated with the first user in response to actuation of said firstbutton input in the first state.
 17. The control panel unit according toclaim 15, wherein said first and second soft labels represent first andsecond applications associated with the first user in a second stateresponsive to said first button input being actuated in the first state.18. The control panel unit according to claim 17, wherein at least oneof the applications is a messaging, music, calendar or news application.19. The control panel unit according to claim 15, wherein said firstsoft label changes appearance responsive to an event independent ofactuation of said first button input.
 20. The control panel unitaccording to claim 19, wherein the event includes receipt of an emailmessage or a calendar event.
 21. The control panel unit according toclaim 15, wherein each of the first and second soft labels includes acolor specifically associated with the user represented by therespective soft label.
 22. The control panel unit according to claim 15,wherein responsive to actuation of said first button input in the firststate, said first and second soft labels representing actions customizedfor the first user.
 23. In a computer system having a display screen andat least one button input adjacent to the display screen, a methodcomprising the steps of: displaying a first button input in a firstviewable state and a second button input in a second viewable state; andresponsive to actuation of said first button input, changing the secondviewable state of said second button input, wherein the first and secondviewable states are displayed outside of the display screen.
 24. Themethod according to claim 23, wherein the first viewable staterepresents an action.
 25. The method according to claim 23, wherein theaction represents a response to an alert.
 26. The method according toclaim 23, wherein the first viewable state represents an application.27. The method according to claim 26, wherein the application is amessaging, music, calendar or news application.
 28. The method accordingto claim 23, wherein the first and second viewable states representfirst and second users of the computer system, respectively.
 29. Themethod according to claim 23, wherein said step of changing the secondviewable state includes the step of illuminating or de-illuminating aportion of said second button input.
 30. The method according to claim29, wherein said step of illuminating or de-illuminating includesilluminating or de-illuminating a peripheral portion of said secondbutton input.
 31. The method according to claim 29, wherein said step ofchanging the second viewable state includes the step of illuminating orde-illuminating an icon.
 32. The method according to claim 23, whereinsaid step of changing the second viewable state label includes the stepof changing a color of a portion of said second button input.
 33. Themethod according to claim 23, further including the step of changing thefirst viewable state of said first button input responsive to actuationof said first button input.
 34. The method according to claim 33,wherein the first and second viewable states represent first and secondactions.
 35. The method according to claim 34, further comprising thestep of initiating the first action in response to actuation of saidfirst button input.
 36. The method according to claim 23, furtherincluding the steps of: displaying a first soft label in a first displayregion of the display screen located adjacent to said first buttoninput, the first soft label representing a current context of said firstbutton input; and displaying a second soft label in a second displayregion of the display screen located adjacent to said second buttoninput, the second soft label representing a current context of saidsecond button input.
 37. The method according to claim 36, furtherincluding the step of changing the first soft label and the second softlabel responsive to actuation of said first button input.
 38. The methodaccording to claim 36, further including the steps of: displaying datain a third display region of the display screen, and in response toactuation of said first button input or said second button input whendata displayed on said display screen is selected, initiating an actionassociated with the data represented by said first soft label or saidsecond soft label.
 39. The method according to claim 38, wherein theaction includes receiving data from the Internet.
 40. In a computersystem having at least first and second display regions, and at leastfirst and second button inputs associated with said first and seconddisplay regions, respectively, a method comprising the steps of:displaying first and second soft labels in said first and second displayregions, respectively, the first and second soft labels associated withsaid first and second button inputs, respectively; and responsive toactuation of said first button input, changing at least one of the firstsoft label and the second soft label, wherein in a first state saidfirst and second soft labels respectively represent first and secondusers of the computer system.
 41. The method according to claim 40,further comprising the step of displaying the first and second softlabels and content in a format associated with the first user responsiveto actuation of said first button input in the first state.
 42. Themethod according to claim 40, wherein the first and second soft labelsrepresent first and second applications associated with the first userin a second state responsive to said first button input being actuatedin the first state.
 43. The method according to claim 42, furthercomprising the step of initiating one of the first application andsecond application, in response to actuation of one of said first buttoninput and second button input, respectively, in the second state. 44.The method according to claim 43, further comprising the step ofchanging the first and second soft labels in response to actuation ofsaid first button input in the second state, the first and second softlabels representing actions associated with the initiated application ina third state.
 45. The method according to claim 40, further comprisingthe step of changing the appearance of the first soft label responsiveto event independent of actuation of said first button input.
 46. Themethod according to claim 45, wherein the event includes receipt of anemail message.
 47. The method according to claim 45, wherein the eventincludes occurrence of a calendar event.
 48. The method according toclaim 42, wherein one of the first and second applications represents amessaging, music, calendar or audio application.
 49. The methodaccording to claim 40, wherein each of the first and second soft labelsincludes a color specifically associated with the user represented bythe respective soft label.
 50. The method according to claim 49, furthercomprising displaying the first and second soft labels in the same colorresponsive to actuation of the first button input in the first state,the color being specifically associated with the first user.
 51. In acomputer system having at least first and second display regions, and atleast first and second button inputs associated with said first andsecond display regions, respectively, a method comprising the steps of:displaying first and second soft labels in said first and second displayregions, respectively, the first and second soft labels associated withsaid first and second button inputs, respectively; and responsive toactuation of said first button input, changing the first soft label insaid first display region associated with said first button input, andinitiating an action involving receiving information via the Internet.52. The method according to claim 51, wherein the information includesnews.
 53. The method according to claim 51, wherein the informationincludes stock information, sports information, weather information ortraffic information.
 54. The method according to claim 51, wherein theinformation includes an online chat request.
 55. The method according toclaim 40, wherein the first and second soft labels represent actions inan alert screen associated with the first user in a second stateresponsive to said first button input being actuated in the first state.56. The method according to claim 55 wherein the alert screen provides anotification message in a third display region.
 57. The method accordingto claim 55, wherein the alert screen provides a message related tostatus of the computer system.